1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems and methods for out-of-band communication across optical transceiver modules of a network fabric.
2. The Relevant Technology
In modern networks, network devices such as switches, routers, host bus adapters (HBA), servers, and the like, are coupled to one another by means of fiber optic transceivers. Many transceivers are “active,” meaning that they have memory and processing capabilities. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/070,757, filed Mar. 2, 2005, which is hereby incorporated by reference, discloses systems and methods by which transceiver modules communicate with one another independently of the network device from which they receive data. The '757 application discloses a system wherein an optical transceiver module modulates the peak or average power of a transmitted signal at a low frequency in order to transmit module specific data out of the frequency band carrying the network data transmitted by the module. A receiving module demodulates the out-of-band data by tracking modulation of the peak or average power of the received signal.
In a typical network, components are not all updated or replaced simultaneously. Both new and old components must therefore be able to communicate with one another even though older components may not be updated. Some transceivers have firmware that may be reprogrammed to facilitate communication with newer modules. However, it is not convenient to update each transceiver in a network each time a newer module is installed. Furthermore, older transceivers have physical limitations, such as a smaller memory, lower processing speed, and less sophisticated optics that cannot be readily updated.
In view of the foregoing, it would be an advancement in the art to provide systems and methods for enabling out-of-band communication across a heterogeneous fiber optic network including transceiver modules of differing capabilities.